The shadows' origins
by Observer Shade
Summary: Formerly known as "the ninja creed".Sarutobi is about to back down from being Hokage. But before he does, he has one last secret to share with his successor. Placed in an asylum cell, his memory slowly drifting away, the ninja known as Creed is that secret. Rated T for safety.
1. The Creed of rebirth

Most stories start at the beginning. For those of you who are so into that tradition, I regret to say that formulating this account has taken some great pains. The story contained here does not start at the beginning, due to the fact that... well, it didn't. This story started somewhere before the beginning and after the end. It started with a dimly lit office, where two of the greatest ninja of Konoha sat discussing the future of one of them.

* * *

1.

The soon to be fourth Hokage slowly looked up from the prisoner report that he was holding.

"Explain it to me again." He said, feeling somewhere between disbelief, outrage, and curiosity.

"Well, as I said, I thought you should be aware of just what the challenges of taking my role are going to be." replied the old man sitting opposite. The younger of the pair looked down at the report again.

Prisoner alias: Creed

Real name: unknown

"You've been talking about that for a while, but you have yet to tell me just why I am here and who this... (He squinted at the name again, and frowned)... Creed actually is."

Again, Minato looked at the prisoner report, his frown deepening every second. In the top left of the page, there was a picture of a boy. The kid didn't look any more than 15. He had unnaturally blue hair, but where he would have found the dye in the asylum, well, Minato couldn't even begin to imagine. His hair was scraggly, but not quite to the point to which he truly had the full on lunatic look. In the picture, he stood with his head cocked to one side, his expression an amused one, with his hands behind his back. He was fair skinned, and skinny, but not to the point at which it looked unhealthy. But his eyes were the strangest thing about him. For a start, they had no pupils. Next, his irises were gray, perfectly gray, as a storm cloud. And lastly, unlike most people, they reflected nothing of what he was seeing. He could be blind, but it was not mentioned in the report at all if he was.

"Well, I guess that you could call Creed many things," said Sarutobi, "but perhaps the best way to tell you his tale is to show you first."

"Follow me" he said, standing up and exiting the office.

Intrigued, Minato followed.

* * *

Konoha police agent Arru Hikyuu had never really wanted to be a police warden. Had he had his choice, he would have been an ice cream man. However, a police warden he was, and so he would do the utmost best that he possibly could at the job which life had dealt him. When he was a boy, he had had a very idealistic view of the police officers. Stoic, honourable men, who risked their lives to bring bad people to justice, When he got older, he realised just what a horrible life such people must lead. Yet he never was prepared for the reality of what warden life in the asylum would bring.

* * *

"Creed was never technically diagnosed with any mental disease. In fact, all of the psychiatrists who went to see him reported him as a perfectly minded individual, with a more athletic mind than over 98% of most people. Yet nobody who meets him ever fails to notice that there is something... different about him. He has never technically committed a crime, which is why his arrest and imprisonment in the asylum have been so... secretive."

* * *

"Inmate 418."

"Wait don't tell me... hmm, oh, it's that time of the week again. Alright Mrs. new psychiatrist... "(the inmate cocked his head to one side, but did not look at the person outside the cell)" wait... yes, you are a Mrs..." (he continued in a sarcastic manner) "What new exciting game should we play today to discover the deepest reaches of my mind? I hope that you will excuse any sarcastic comments, witty, or otherwise, remarks that I may make, or completely random things that I may say, just to annoy you, but I have done this many many times, and it only causes to give me entertainment now, as you struggle over the insanities of a sane man. Very well Arru, let her in... Let's get this over with."

Arru shook his head, as the woman next to him gasped. He really would never get used to that strange ability of his charge.

* * *

"Although there was never any evidence to convict him, and although Creed had probably not done half of the things we convicted him of, I do not believe that there was another alternative to the way that I acted. Creed does have a mental condition... of a sort. You see, he has a mental inability to forget a debt, and an unwillingness to ignore one."

"So the kid has a strong sense of fairness and unfairness, is that a reason to imprison him under such circumstances?"

* * *

"You claim that you are totally sane," Inmate 418 raised an eyebrow at Arru, and Arru couldn't help but grin. The last five psychiatrists had come up with the exact same starting line. "But then why are you here, and why did your last six psychiatrists each diagnose you with a completely different disorder, everything from dyslexia, to being a psycho,"

"I'm going to go for split personalities this time," the inmate said to Arru "same wager?"

Arru nodded, barely stifling a laugh. He couldn't help it, no matter how hard he tried not to, he liked his charge.

"What do you mean look at their reports again?" said the psychiatrist.

Arru wasn't even half surprised.

* * *

"Under normal circumstances, nearly anybody would have agreed with you, but two things made what I did justified. Firstly, Creed was a very powerful ninja before his fall, and I was going to make him my successor before the incident. However, the most important thing was that he kept perfect track of the number of debts that he owed each person, and he owed three debts to... he owed three debts to Orochimaru."

* * *

"What did you do to them?" she shrieked.

The inmate sighed to Arru, but what the psychiatrist saw him do was completely beyond Arru's best guesses.

"Six different people all diagnose themselves with some of the worst mental health disorders there ever were right after speaking to you!"

There was a pause, all the while, Arru's charge shook his head at Arru while raising his eyes to the stars.

"And will you please move your lips when you are speaking, it's unnerving!"

As ever, his charge's abilities unnerved all who were unfamiliar with it. Hundreds of people could look at inmate 418, and as long as he was sitting down, each could see him do something completely different, and hear him say something completely different. That wasn't the weirdest thing though. The inmate of the cell before him talked with a barely noticeable movement of his lips, and no movement of the tongue, yet he sounded just the same as normal. This pseudo acting, as he called it, was the same for most of what he did. He ate by simply looking at food, slept with his eyes open, could hear a whisper from a soundproofed room, and could feel something without touching it. Just witnessing it though, was enough to make most psychiatrists think that they had gone mad.

* * *

"Orochimaru used his first and second debts to prove to me that Creed would do anything for him. With his first debt, he caused Creed to attack his best friend to the brink of consciousness. For his second, Orochimaru told Creed not to resist as he removed part of Creed's intestine and stomach, as well as a section of his voice box. He also removed creed's lens in his left eye, leaving him with just the right, which he then implanted a remote iris contractor into, causing Creed's iris to contract down to the point at which he no longer had a pupil. In order to prevent himself from "becoming an utter freak", as he had put it, Creed took manual control of his left eye, and similarly closed his iris. He then caused his body to rewire, making full use of his strange abilities to restore the functions that he had lost in a different way."

* * *

The psychiatrist ran screaming from the asylum, and the inmate picked up her report so far.

"Split personalities, heh, I win."

"You never cease to amaze," muttered Arru emptying his pockets onto the food tray table, which served as the only way that the two could pass objects between each other. "So, what do you want?"

His charge took an elastic band, a cog, a piece of string, and a piece of brown paper from the small pile of objects, as well as a shard of glass, before adding each to a different contraption that he was currently working on. Each had a slight resemblance to something else. There was a crude telescope, an equally crude microscope, a wind up train toy, and a small scale model of Arru. This was one of the few ways that inmate 418 had of keeping himself amused. Once, when all of the inmates were let out for their exercise, one had picked up the train, and broken it. Since then, no inmate had ever entered his cell again, and inmate 418 was moved to a higher security cell. For a second, his charge was as normal, trying to make the best of a bad situation, then, something changed in 418's bearing. Inmate 418 had caught sight of the name the scrap of brown envelope had been addressed to.

* * *

"Now we attempted to hold Creed by force, but he escaped five times. It was then, that I made healing his friend the top priority for the hospital that he was in. Therefore, Creed was in my debt. I asked him not to escape again. Since then, he has been in the asylum, in a special cell designed by some of the greatest genjutsu users in the village. For every year that he spends in there, he will lose some of his memories. When he has finally lost all of his memories, and therefore has forgotten about the debt that he owes Orochimaru, then he will be brought out."

"How long has he been in there?"

"Well, he was seventeen when he went in."

"He was only seventeen!"

"And he was born about five years before you, making it so that he has been in there for... about twenty years."

"But he looks only about sixteen!"

"His body ages more slowly than normal, as does his mind while he is in that cell. In fact, while he is there, his body ages backwards. In everything but age, he is fifteen years old."

* * *

"Creed."

The name rang a bell to the inmate, it sounded so familiar.

"Tell me Arru, can you give me the letter that was inside here, I will give you back... the rubber band."

"Umm, I guess."

"I want to meet this Creed, this just sounds so outlandish."

"Where do you think we are going?"

"No... No... No... ah, here it is."

"Thank you."

The letter was just a bill.

"A pencil for the cog!" yelled the inmate, in a slightly frenzied voice.

Inmate 418 lightly rubbed the pencil over the paper, and a second message appeared. Arru gasped, and attempted to snatch away the paper, but it was too late. The inmate had already read what the real letter contained.

It read as follows:

"To my dearest friend Creed.

I simply wish to inform you that he is back, and that as my final debt, I wish you to escape from the prison, and to stop him again. That is all.

From your last indebted to."

Creed... the name seemed so familiar...

Creed!

* * *

"The thing about him was not so much his power as a ninja, rather, his intelligence, his agility, and... well, have a look at the report."

"Oh, well that is... weird."

"Yes, and nobody is quite sure how he-"

* * *

Arru was still unaware of quite what was going on. His charge's door had simply opened, and then Arru had become aware of a strong pressure on his neck, and a general backwards movement, as well as a lot of rushing wind, before a fall of some kind through a closed window, somehow without breaking it. The whole process took less than seven seconds.

Creed grinned, as he fell towards the ground. He had forgotten what it was to actually do something other than sit around. He had to admit though, he remembered being faster than that. Admittedly Arru would probably still have no idea what was going on, or at least would still be processing what had just happened, but seriously, after the door had opened, it had taken him four whole seconds, to grab Arru by the neck, open a nearby window, bail out of it, and close it behind himself with his feet. Unacceptable. If he was going to defeat "him" again, whoever "he" was, Creed would have to do better than that. He was way too rusty. Anyway, back to business, after all, he was sort of breaking out of a maximum security prison. That probably would merit his full attention.

Still with Arru by the neck, Creed broke into a run. He had not been expecting to escape like this, but at least this way he could work some of the stiffness out of his limbs before he actually had to fight or flee. The guards caught up with him in a rather admirable thirty seconds.

"Anybody moves, and this guy dies!" yelled Creed, turning to the ten guards who had followed him. Creed examined each one. Five with head bands, two with ANBU masks. Creed disregarded the other three as no threat, when he saw the crude blunt scythe that the non-ninjas of the guards used. Of the rest, Creed saw one who looked confident enough to be a threat, one who looked a little too confident to know who he was dealing with, the two ANBU were unreadable behind their masks, one who was shaking all over, one who was unremarkable, and one... who was unreadable as the ANBU. The latter of these worried Creed the most. An unknown enemy was often more dangerous than an enemy of any strength. Creed didn't particularly like his odds. Creed never liked his odds unless they were better than 50:1 for, himself, but he really didn't like his odds here. Hmm, the hostage would be the key.

"Now, now, I believe that you are getting over your head little boy. Look around you. We are ten grown men, each armed, and seven of which are ninja. Two of which are ANBU, which if you do not know, are ninja that easily kill other ninja."

Had this speech come from almost any of his opponents, Creed may have been worried, but as it came from the over confident man, Creed remained calm, and summed up the pros and cons of making an example of this person.

* * *

"Shouldn't we be running?" asked Minato.

"No, I am quite sure that the guards will be more than capable of catching and holding up Creed while he is encumbered with his hostage."

"But what if-"

"Now Minato, Creed will still be there for us to fight. The only thing that will change is how ready we are for him, and how ready he is for us."

"But surely it would be wiser to have the guards to assist us."

"I believe that the fight will be more favourable to us if you know more about the enemy that we face. Firstly, Creed will not kill anybody, no matter what the circumstances are."

"You have already said-"

"Yes, I know. Secondly, Creed not only can perform jutsu without hand seals, but he can also create jutsu as he likes, and move the physical realm around him with nothing more than his mind. Now you would have been caught out had you not known that."

"Perhaps..."

* * *

Creed decided that this fight was not going to be won through brute strength, or at least, if he took that approach, he would be less likely to win. Therefore, giving away a hint at his abilities was more than worth it in order to show these people that he was not to be taken so lightly, and to try to prove the point to them that he was deadly serious.

Creed glanced around. What did he have to work with... let's see... some trees, grass, ground... hmm, overly dry. That might work. Creed felt the way that it all linked together. The trees needed the water that the ground was not giving them. Therefore, it was only a small change to prompt one to search for water in a different way. The overconfident man suddenly found himself wrapped in the roots of a small tree. Two seconds later, the roots pierced into him, and he passed out from dehydration. Creed let out a sigh, as he felt how refreshed the plant now was. The small tree released the now unconscious man, and placed its roots firmly back in the ground. The nine other men looked back at Creed wearily. Creed grinned.

* * *

Author's note: I am sorry for the extended use of lines. I attempted to use multiple line breaks, but that didn't really work. Anyway, I am relatively pleased with how this has started out. Reviews would be appreciated.


	2. The Creed of escape

2.

Creed reviewed his odds. Hmm, not much better. There were the non-ninja two guards a- ... Oh brilliant. Creed grimaced as he realised that one of the guards whom he had discounted was chewing on a small green-blue pill. Creed swore under his breath. Such a pill was a chakra stabiliser, which a couple of the guards had to take every hour. Such guards were experiments. Dead bodies were reanimated by some of Konoha's best medics, and were then experimented on to the point at which they were at the peak of human condition. Such creatures fought with remorse, pain, and were still in full control of their wits. The only thing that they couldn't do was use jutsu. As small a threat as this might seem, Creed knew from experience that to underestimate one was suicide. This one stepped calmly forward.

Creed spent less than a second thinking again. If he could beat this man with nothing but taijutsu, he would gain some serious intimidation points with those that remained, lengthening the time that his ruse of the hostage situation would work. Alternatively, if the man managed to cause Creed to resort to jutsu after he had not already done so from the beginning, the others would get more confident, and his ruse may as well be non-existent. Creed took Arru by the hood, before piercing it with a sharp twig, and merging that twig with the tree that it first came from. He also caused that tree to move slightly in around Arru. This would probably do nothing but convince Arru that he was trapped, since he actually wasn't, but this fight wouldn't take long enough for him to figure that out. Creed shifted his weight from one foot to another, before stepping forward to meet this challenge.

The guard made a roundhouse swing at Creed, which he only just managed to sway backwards out of the way of. This man was quicker than Creed had anticipated. The man followed up with his right hand. Creed acted as if regaining his balance before ducking out of the way at the last second. The guard, expecting to feel his fist slam into the boy's jaw, met with nothing but empty air.

For a second, he was off balance, and that second was all that Creed needed. Placing his left palm on the man's elbow, and his right palm against the back of the man's fist, he guided the man's punch even further away from himself. The man's punch, guided by Creed's slight push, over swung far too much, and unbalanced the man. The guard attempted to use the fact that this small opponent had set him spinning to gain momentum and strike the boy with his elbow.

This was what Creed had really been waiting for, the move of an off balance opponent. It only came naturally to attempt this when faced with such a situation, and Creed knew this all too well. Although, come to think of it, he couldn't actually remember where he had actually learned that. Damn it, he was getting side tracked again. Returning his focus to reality, Creed shifted his right hand from the man's fist, to his right elbow, and his left hand from the man's right elbow to his left elbow. Now Creed was surprisingly light, a fact that he had used to his advantage when developing taijutsu techniques such as this. Exploiting this fact, he then pulled in his legs, and using the man's elbows as a support, ran up the man's back, before pushing off with his hands. The result was that Creed launched himself into the air, and as the man staggered again with the surprise of not finding the hyperactive squirrel, where he expected him to be, and again striking nothing but air, Creed performed a series of flips that would have left most gymnasts green with envy, before landing right at the place where he had taken off from, facing the back of the man who had just staggered through this very spot. Creed knew that these people were immune to pressure points and holds, since their bodily functions did not react the same as most people's did, so attempting to follow up quickly, Creed slammed his fist into the back of the man's head. Swearing, Creed stumbled backwards, nurturing the cracked knuckles of his right hand. Hmm, if he was going for intimidation points, screaming in pain probably didn't help. However, a more menacing scream of pain had not been heard by anybody in the vicinity. Or at least, Creed would have liked to believe that swearing, stumbling backwards, and yelling incoherently at the same time were in some way menacing. In actual fact, one of the other two non-ninja guards had to stifle a laugh. Perhaps the only menacing thing about the screaming was how weird it was that somehow Creed could swear, scream, and stumble, all while barely moving his lips. The overly thick skulled guard had not even noticed the impact of the punch, but did hear an awful lot of very profound language from behind him. He turned around, confused as to:

a) How the kid had somehow managed to literally disappear, without him detecting any chakra being used,

b) Why the kid was now behind him, and why he had not taken advantage of the opening that somehow getting there undetected had given him, and

c) Why on Earth was he swaggering around, shrieking and cussing like a drunkard.

Either way, the kid was holding a hostage, and if he was for whatever reason unprepared for an attack, then maybe he would sit still long enough for F9 (for that was the guard's name ever since he had been brought back from the dead) to hit him over the head, and drag him back to the asylum. Alright, it wasn't much of a plan, but F9's plans never were. They never had to be.

Creed decided not to do that again. In order to hurt this opponent, he decided, he would have to use something with more force behind it, that did not hurt him when it collided with a wall at high speeds. Creed came out of his revelry, just in time to avoid a crushing overhead blow that would have probably greatly impeded one of his three greatest gifts, (namely his intelligence), for as long as he lived. Alright, so something like a makeshift club would probably suit his needs, he just had to find a suitable branch. Creed swore again, as the man tried to catch Creed with a spinning kick. If Creed was going to think, he'd have to get out of this hulk's reach, and since his only weakness was that he couldn't use chakra, Creed dodged three more large scything blows, before ducking out of combat, and charging head first at a tree, and right up it.

A worthy plan, but Creed had again underestimated the hulk that he faced. Now without the ability to use chakra, F9 shouldn't have been able to follow Cree up the tree. However, a tree in such dry ground was not going to have overly strong roots, and so when F9 literally pulled the tree from the ground, the roots snapped like Tsunade in a child's card game. Creed's eyes widened as the whole world seemed to sway. He felt the tree's dying pain, not literally of course, but he hated the fact that his ploy had lead to this. However, it was nature's rule to take advantage of that that is dead, so before he jumped to another, temporarily more stable piece of vegetation, Creed snapped off a sturdy branch from the tree. Now, he had a weapon.

In order to spare this tree from the same fate as the last, Creed leapt down, attempting to use gravity to send his foot, armoured with a shoe, flying at high speeds towards the guard... "damn, this guy has a skull harder than stone" thought Creed, as the only thing that his kick caused the man to do was to roll his head to one side slightly. Faster than Creed would have thought possible, the muscle bound guard reached up, and took Creed by the ankle. All of a sudden, Creed was worried. To say that he was scared would be to go too far, but he was definitely worried. F9 swung Creed around his head, and then stopped as he had a better idea. The idea had been to crush Creed's leg before throwing him, crippling him enough so that he would be unable to resist further capture. However, before that could happen, Creed swung his makeshift club at F9's arm. The club instantly buckled, but F9 also let out a grunt of pain, and released Creed's ankle, causing Creed to fall directly on his head. Slightly dazed from the fall, Creed rolled away from the man, before groggily getting up. F9 was still looking incredulously at his arm, as if unable to understand why this pipsqueak had been able to hurt it. Shaking his head to clear it, Creed reviewed his situation. The man against him was a stubborn opponent, but he could be hurt. He also didn't seem to be overly bright, and his fighting style reflected that, with overly clumsy strikes, and almost no emphasis on defence... wait, he could hurt him on the arm, because the bones there were not as strong as the man's skull. Creed had an idea.

Breaking off another club from a nearby tree (he might have been sorry to do so, but he needed that club), Creed rushed the man, throwing caution to the wind, as he attempted to strike first, bringing the club in a broad sweeping upwards strike, that came perfectly between the legs. If Creed's opponent had been surprised by the pain in his arm, then he had never experienced any pain like the one that his little opponent had just inflicted on him. F9 fell to his knees, whining like a tortured pig. Creed broke the club against the back of the man's head, and his opponent was down, not unconscious, but definitely incapacitated. Creed breathed a sigh of relief that he had not been fighting a woman, before returning to Arru, removing the sharpened stick from the tree, and placing it against his hostage's neck.

"Now, is there anybody else who would like to attempt to take me back by force, because my patience is wearing thin, and the chances of this man getting out of this situation alive are decreasing with it."

For a second, Creed thought that he might actually be able to get out of this without having to fight anybody else. Indeed, the confident one, was now looking quite worried, and the two guards, along with the trembling ninja ran screaming from the area. They would bring reinforcements of course, but by then they would hopefully be too late. But then he noticed that the unreadable man was also gone. Instantly alert, Creed began planning for as many different scenarios as he could. For a second, one of the ANBU thought that they saw Creed twitch. Creed released Arru for a second, made a hand seal, and then grabbed him again, as ten shadow clones formed a circle around the two of them, each instantly alert to danger. The real Creed kept his eyes firmly fixed on the rest of his opponents.

Several moments passed. A twig snapped, but it was not necessarily the man who had disappeared, no it could have just been- Seven shadow clones disappeared in a puff of smoke, a kunai in their necks. The other three quickly followed, and before Creed had even processed what was going on, a kunai was placed against his neck.

"I surrender," said Creed in a voice that was somewhere between questioning and pleading. However, the younin standing behind Creed had seen more than enough of him to know that so long as he was conscious, he was still a threat. Therefore, he delivered a quick jab to a pressure point on the back of Creed's head, expecting him to crumple to the floor. Creed disappeared in a puff of smoke. As annoyed as he was at not capturing the escaped inmate, the younin was at least partially happy that they had managed to retrieve the hostage.

"Are you all right?" asked one of the ANBU

"Just fine now that you guys are here," replied Arru

"Well, it's just annoying that now that convict is on the loose," mumbled the man whom Creed had thought of as unremarkable.

"Not necessarily," said Arru with a smile on his face.

"True," grunted the other ANBU "We can still track him down if we move quickly, let's get moving, if we split up, we will have a better chance of finding his trail."

"Actually, there will be no need for that," said Arru, reaching inside his pocket. "While he was holding that twig to my neck, I put an exploding tag on him. If I detonate it, it probably won't really do any major damage, but we will see where he is."

"Then what are you waiting for?" exclaimed the unremarkable one.

About five hundred metres away, an explosion was seen above the treetops. The younin rushed past Arru, who was smirking as if pleased with himself. A short run revealed an empty clearing, but it did not take a genius to figure out which way Creed had gone, since there was an easily traceable path through the undergrowth. Ten seconds later, and the group came upon Creed as he stumbled further on through the undergrowth. Without pausing, the younin sent another kunai flying towards Creed, which hit him in the leg. Creed stumbled, then disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Arru burst out laughing, as the rest of the group turned on him. For a second, nobody except Arru knew what was going on. Then Arru gave a mock salute, released the transformation, turning back into Creed, before disappearring in a puff of smoke.

Creed took a moment to pause and smile in satisfaction. Everything had gone to plan. It had just been all too easy to switch both himself and Arru with shadow clones, then to make his escape while his pursuers scrambled after his clone. Oh, and the exploding tag had been a nice touch. By creating two clones, he was able to have one carry the tag that was set off, and one that was outside of the blast, ready to step in and create an obvious trail to lead them even further away from him. By the time that they got back to search for him, it would be too late, he and his hostage would be long gone. Or at least, that had been the plan. Creed had not had any knowledge of his second party of pursuers, so he was caught out by them when they did catch up to him.

"Good afternoon Creed," said the third Hokage.

* * *

Author's note: Creed is not a ninja of kage level; he never even used to be. It was simply that before his imprisonment, he was nearing it at a rate that had never been seen before. He was seventeen, and already caused a threat to the Hokage. He is, at this point in the story, just below younin level, due to the fact that he has lost some of his battle prowess after years in the cell. I would probably make some comment about how this is a cliffhanger, but so far only nine people have viewed my work.

Anyway, please review.


	3. The Creed of The Start

Creed winced. He hated when that happened. Slowly, Creed turned around until he was facing the Hokage, and inwardly winced again as he was that he was not alone. Not only that, but the stranger was viewing Creed with exactly the right amounts of confidence and caution, to convince Creed that the stranger was a real threat. Creed put his odds of winning this fight, when he included the fact that he had a hostage, at somewhere very close to zero.

Creed realised that while all this had been going through his mind, the Hokage had been speaking.

"Why did you break out of there Creed?" asked Sarutobi in an overly polite voice, "I was under the opinion that you owed me a debt, and that for that debt, you were not going to break out."

"I did?"

"I see!" said the Hokage, his eyes lighting up, "So you've forgotten... tell me, do you remember somebody by the name of Orochimaru, and I warn you Creed, the only way that you will get out of this situation is if you answer truthfully. I am the Hokage. Therefore, I can instantly tell a lie, especially from you. If I see a lie, you have no hope of escaping this situation."

"No, no I don't know anybody called Orochimaru."

For a second, the Hokage's smile couldn't have been much wider. Then the Hokage realised what else this could mean.

"Can you remember anything of your life before the asylum?"

Creed released Arru, eyes wide, as he too realised just what had happened. "You are the Hokage, I am Creed... and I know who I am, or at least, I know what I like dislike, and otherwise, but other than that..." Creed dropped to his knees and attempted to remember everything. In fact, he would have settled for remembering anything, but try as he might, he could not remember anything about his life. He knew things, such as what a ninja is, how to throw a kunai, but he could not for the life of him remember how he knew them, or where he had gotten the knowledge.

"I see..."

Creed just knelt there, jaw slack, unable to comprehend the enormity of what had happened. He could have been anyone, done anything, and he would be none the wiser. Well... he must have defeated a male at some point in his life... unless that letter was simply lying to him. Creed remained oblivious to the world. About a thousand thoughts were passing through his mind. Thoughts such as: why was I in that asylum, could I have done something terrible, what the heck happened to me?

"Creed... Creed..." the third Hokage was looking down with a sympathetic look at the kneeling sixteen year old before him. All right, the kid was actually thirty seven, but really, he should not have been viewed as anything but a sixteen year old, or so the Hokage felt.

Creed looked down at the ground that he was kneeling on. All of a sudden, its every detail seemed important. Creed needed something, anything to fill his empty mind with. The ground was dry, but not cracked. A thin layer of dust lined it. The grass was green, and brown in almost a camouflage like pattern. Creed was so engrossed in the tiny details of the patch of grass in front of him, that he didn't notice as the piece of paper slipped from his pocket, and landed on the dusty floor. However, the future Hokage was not so oblivious to the actions that were happening around him. Realising that Creed was either choosing to ignore the world around him, or he was unable to remain focussed on such things, Minato strode forward and picked up the letter. It could have been nothing, but his instincts told him that this folded piece of paper would have something of importance on it. That, and as far as he was aware, Creed would not have been supposed to have any personal possessions while in the asylum, so where on Earth did he get- well that changes the situation. Minato Uzumaki looked down at the letter that Creed had received earlier, the very same letter that had caused him to escape.

"Sir, have a look at this."

The third Hokage leaned over, and read the letter.

"Creed!" he yelled. There was still no reponse. "Alright Minato, I believe that the thousand years of death technique should rouse him."

Creed's eyes widened, before he leapt straight up, to attention, as if being drilled in the ANBU academy again.

"No need to do that sir! I am fully aware now, never been more aware of my surroundings. Oh, is that a new hat you're wearing?"

Minato couldn't help but grin. No matter how engrossed he might have been, the mention of that technique was enough to rouse anybody from the deepest stupor. Still, he couldn't resist the opportunity to tease Creed now that it seemed like the situation was not going to have to develop into combat for the present.

"Weren't quite so oblivious as you were pretending now, were you Creed?"

Creed couldn't let him get away with that, but for the moment, he played humble, with a short embarrassed smile. Unfortunately for Creed and his pride, he had no idea of quite who this man was, so the shadow clone he was attempting to bring up behind Minato got a kunai between the shoulder blades from the future Hokage's own clone.

Creed grimaced for a second, before smiling, and without moving his lips, conceding defeat.

"Alright... you got me then." Creed placed unusual emphasis on the "then". Minato smiled. He would look forward to when they next met, since he was certain that Creed would try again to get the better of him.

Meanwhile, the third Hokage was deep in thought. Assuming that Creed had not forged the letter, then Orochimaru's debt was now settled as soon as Creed performed this deed for him. It was possible that Creed had forged the letter, but if he had not forgotten so much, then surely he would still remember being asked to remain in the cell. No, Creed had definitely forgotten about everything. Hmm, well perhaps he still remembered that he still owed somebody a debt, but he couldn't remember specifics could he?

It did not matter, assuming that he did still remember the fact that he owed a debt to Orochimaru, then there were two possible scenarios. Firstly, Creed had received a different task from Orochimaru, and showing incredible foresight, he had forged this letter beforehand to mask the real task. Alternatively, this could have been what Orochimaru asked of him. However, assuming that Orochimaru had asked Creed to do something against the Hokage, wouldn't this be the perfect opportunity to have done it, if he didn't know about Minato, he should have leapt at the opportunity to corner the Hokage without a bodyguard. No, if the debt was a threat, it was a threat to Konoha. Who this "he" was, the Hokage just couldn't fathom. To the best of his knowledge, Creed had never defeated somebody that Orochimaru could not defeat himself. So either Orochimaru knew something about Creed that he didn't, or Creed's real mission threatened Konoha. Afterall, why bother to hide the real mission while in Konoha if Konoha in general would simply allow it to happen anyway. Under normal circumstances, he would have Creed taken back to Konoha and have the ninja police examine the evidence until they realised which option was true, but Creed had just escaped from the asylum, another punishable offense that would cause him to be imprisoned again. No, it would not come to that. Creed had served enough time for things that were not his fault.

All of a sudden, the Hokage was struck by how foolish he was being. There was an easy way to discover the truth.

"Arru, what happened to Creed before he escaped? Did he undergo a change after receiving this note, or beforehand."

Arru took this opportunity as an excuse to nonchalantly move the sharp stick away from his throat, and to step forward a few steps, all the while acting as if he was simply answering the question. Creed of course noticed his ruse, but didn't mind if his hostage escaped now. The hostage was not increasing his odds in this scenario.

"After lord Hokage," said Arru falling to one knee before the Hokage. Creed raised an eyebrow. The man had chosen to kneel in an exact position that he could be mouthing anything to the third, and Creed would be none the wiser. Not only that, but from his kneeling position, had Creed been the greatest assassin in the world, he would not have been able to kill Arru from where he was standing. All of Arru's vital areas were concealed by his pose. Also, had Arru wished to attack Creed, he was placed in a perfect position to turn and attack Creed with his scythe, fighting at the perfect range to make full effect of the added reach of the weapon. Finally, from where Arru was kneeling, his cloak fell across his hands. He could have been doing anything, and Creed would not have known until it was too late. Creed also noticed, that from where the Hokage was standing, he would only have to drop his hands slightly, and they would be obscured enough to perform hand seals without his enemy being able to react, or predict them, since they would not know that he was performing them until too late. Creed instantly decided that this man could be just as dangerous as many a ninja. Well, either that, or it could be just total chance. If he did that sort of thing again... well, then Creed would be impressed.

Sarutobi was about to accept this answer, when he realised that this man could have been a shadow clone. Unfortunately for Arru, there was only one way for him to test things like that. Minato however was just a little quicker to test this. When he hit Arru about the back of the head, Arru did not disappear. That only left the options that this Arru was either a genjutsu, or one of Creed's own techniques, dreamed up to serve the purpose of the moment. An illusion dispel from Minato disproved the first option, and when the Hokage sensed Arru's chakra, it felt like Arru's chakra. The Hokage realised that he probably should have done that first, before Minato had hit Arru around the back of the head. Unfortunately, he hadn't, and Arru was lying face down on the floor, groaning.

Creed had known that that would probably happen, but it still didn't stop him from cringing as Arru went down. He was not a medic ninja, nor would he ever have the long term patience to become one. Therefore, all Creed could do to try to heal Arru's body and pride, was to walk over, and offer his hand to help the man up. Shaking his head, Arru looked for a second like he was going to decline Creed's hand. However, after a moment's hesitation, Arru took the offer of assistance, and Creed pulled him out of the dust.

"Alright Creed, I'm going to let you go. After all, what could we do when you had a hostage?"

Minato turned towards the Hokage. One eyebrow on his face was raised.

"Not only that, but somehow, you had covered your hostage in exploding tags."

The other eyebrow followed the first.

"And with the fact that you had single handedly evaded the best guards that were guarding the asylum, there was nothing that would prove that you weren't just another clone, and the only way that we could check would mean certain death for the hostage, isn't that right Minato?"

"Yes, of course it is. No, neither of us could have done anything to stop the escaped convict, as he escaped with his hostage. Especially not as he somehow performed several warding techniques without seals, all within the space of a second, no, we would have never been able to catch him again even if we had pursued."

"Are you alright with this Arru?" asked the Hokage in a much lower tone of voice.

"I... I am not certain that I understand the question Lord Hokage."

"Well Creed, being Creed, and an escaped convict... well, we couldn't just let him go off free without some sort of guardian."

"That, and technically, I am underage." Creed said, with a grin spreading across his face.

"But I have friends back at Konoha!" exclaimed Arru

"It is your choice. But if you don't go, we will be forced to bring Creed back to Konoha, and put him back in the asylum." Minato said.

Arru thought for a second. It was true that he had friends back in Konoha. But inmate 418, no, wait... Creed was also his friend. Arru didn't abandon his friends. Not only that, but something told him that this was going to be an adventure. No, this was going to be a quest against evil. This was his chance to truly live out what his childhood dreams of being a police officer was. It was time for him to do the right thing.

"I'll go with him," mumbled Arru, then he realised that everybody was still looking at him. Arru came to the conclusion that they hadn't heard him. He was about to repeat himself, when he realised that not only were they still looking at him, but they were not moving. Arru stepped forward, until he was within arm's reach of Creed. He waved his hand in front of Creed's face. There was no response. Arru turned around. Behind him, there was a shadow sliding towards him. However, there was no object to create the shadow. The shadow had no real shape. It stopped just a few feet from Arru, before a snake's head appeared from the mass of it. For a second, the head regarded Arru. Then, it seemed to nod, and moved back into the mass of shadows, and the shadow was gone.

"Brilliant," said Minato.

"In that case, we certainly couldn't have pointed you towards a travelling slave trader that goes under the name of Second Birth. No, we most certainly didn't tell you that in order to gain back your memories, that would be the first step. We also could not tell you not to tear the place down until you had found a clue as to where to head next."

Minato smiled at Creed.

"Goodbye Creed, and good luck. I'll look forward to our next encounter."

Creed smiled, and clasped the soon to be Hokage around the back. He then stepped back, and inclined his head towards the current Hokage.

Arru bowed to both of these people in turn. As the two walked away, Arru could not help but notice the looks on the faces of the third and fourth Hokages. Something told him that now, he had two more people who he could now count as friends. This meant that he had two more people who he would not let down on this mission. As much as the vision he had seen had disturbed him, he wasn't about to let it get to him. After all, it might just be that he had spent too long in the nuthouse. Arru did not want his friends to lose faith in him, so he did not mention it as the two parties split. No, he tried to put all thoughts of such things to the back of his mind. Still, he had never been the sort to dream up things like that before...

The Hokage smiled as he saw Creed and Arru depart. For a second, he wondered how exactly he was going to explain this to some of his critics. Then Minato turned away and headed back to Konoha.

"Umm, Minato..."

"Yes?"

"You have something stuck to your back."

"What!"

Minato practically ripped the scrap of brown envelope from his back, where it had been crudely folded into the hood of his jacket.

To... well, you know who this is to.

I have lost the battle, but I will not lose the war

-Creed

Minato smiled. He would definitely look forward to their next meeting.

* * *

Author's Note: Even if I get hate mail for continuing to write this... I WILL NOT STOP! Alright, only two people have viewed the second chapter. That means that two people like my work enough to read on. Considering that seventeen people have visited it, this means that over ten percent of all people who have seen it have liked it enough to read on, and this is enough to make me happy. Now if only I could get a review...


	4. The Creed of Calm Fury

Men were working at a chain gang. Even children were doggedly swinging pickaxes towards the wall of the deep quarry. One fell over. By the time he was able to get up, his back was bleeding freely. There was one task manager, and fifteen guards, which Creed assumed were also slaves. There was one real guard who actually had the proper equipment. There were about one hundred people on the chain, all aligned about the outside of the deep hole that served as a quarry. There was no way out except for a small frayed rope. Creed saw ten more of such places. For a second, he wondered what this slaver did with the women, then he realised, and decided that he didn't want to think about it anymore. Of course, like any slavers, there was a stand on which "goods" were being sold. Creed was disgusted by the number of people crowded around this area, all yelling their bids at the woman stood in the middle of the podium, showcasing an especially muscled young man. Meanwhile at another podium, there were an even larger number gathered around a man showcasing the women. All this was taking place in a wide open field with several small huts arrayed around it, and a structure that looked like a stone fortress in the middle. A half naked woman led an exquisitely dressed man into this fortress.

Arru placed a hand on Creed's shoulder, and Creed realised that he had been shaking.

"Come on," said Arru, "let's head back to camp."

Creed said nothing, but continued to shake.

"Come on... we agreed that we were only going to size it up on this visit... look Creed, we are in no condition to siege a fortress, while one of us is too angry to think with his head rather than his heart."

A conflict was taking place between those two powers right at that moment. Creed was in half a mind to storm in there, and simply tear the fortress down. The chakra expended would almost certainly kill him instantly, but still...

In the end, Creed reached a midpoint.

"Alright, but when we will return by the end of today, and then... hmm, well, we'll think of something."

Creed reached up. The apple tree that the two were standing next to leaned down, and deposited an apple in Creed's hand. Creed examined the apple for a few seconds, and then blew on it. Eight pips burst out of the apple into Creeds hand. For a second, he regarded them, and then he dropped them, and stamped them into the now more moist earth. It was unlikely that another tree would grow from them, but they had served their purpose by getting to the ground and having a chance. He then took a very rigorous bite out of the apple, leaving a gaping hole in the outer skin.

Arru nodded, satisfied that at least for the present, Creed's rage would not mean the death of both of them. As if by mutual consent, the two turned around, and walked back to the camp. An idea was already forming in Creed's mind.

* * *

"We're storming a fortress with these?"

"Well a true ninja can make an effective tool out of anything," said Creed, blowing on another apple, and catching the pips.

"But apple pips?"

"Now now, Arru, do not sell apple pips short. When they are planted, they can grow very tall."

"Creed, they are going to be properly equipped with real weapons, like shuriken, and katanas"

"And we have the power of nature on my side."

"Is this really the time to be cracking jokes," said Arru, while sharpening the apple pips that Creed had just handed to him on a small stone.

"Well you started it,"

"Yes, I guess I did,"

"Anyway, anything to keep me distracted from what is going on every moment we spend sitting here."

"Hmm... yeah," replied Arru, as he applied the paste that Creed had somehow gotten hold of to the apple pips.

Creed unravelled another section of his new jacket, (they had... "borrowed" two new sets of clothes from a clothes line to get out of the asylum clothes) and laced the pips back into the fabric, being very careful not to prick himself on the sharpened ends. That made a total of sixty three pips. Creed blew on another apple.

"So what actually is the plan?"

"I'm improvising."

"So... what do you want me to do?"

"Well if you here a very sharp and very loud whistle, you know that something has gone wrong, and you start improvising too."

Arru shook his head incredulously. "Shouldn't we have some sort of plan?"

"Well I was thinking that if I "hire" one of the girls, I should be able to get inside that place. After that... well I haven't seen the inside, so I will just have to hope that improvising will do," replied Creed.

"You're crazy Creed."

"Have you only just figured this out? I've been in an asylum for sixteen years, and you have only just figured out that I am crazy?"

Arru laughed. It was just too much. His companion was cracking jokes just before storming a fortress.

Creed however sobered the mood by saying "it's just a shame that this is the only way to get inside. It still won't feel right hiring them, and having them look at me like..." Creed shuddered.

After that, the two worked in silence, until Creed had a hundred pips sewn into each arm of his jacket. Then Creed got up, and picked up two of the pipless apples.

"I'll see you later," he said, before turning around and walking off towards the slave traders.

* * *

It was almost night by the time that Creed actually arrived. It took him less than a second to pick out a target. He had decided on the way here to make a big flashy entrance. After all, if he was ninja, and therefore a threat, he would know better than to do just that. Of course, if it backfired, it could be problematic, so he would have to make sure that it didn't.

Taking one of his two apples, he tossed it at a man who was leading a nervous looking girl towards the fortress. The apple had not been thrown with enough force to knock the man over, but Creed rarely missed... with anything. The apple stuck the man directly on the head, and the man cried out like he had been cut open by a katana. He spun around in a wide arc, trying to find the perpetrator of this crime. Creed made it easy for him by casually tossing the second apple. The man rounded on Creed angrily. For a second, his head looked like it was going to explode.

"What the **** do you think that you are doing you little ****."

Creed calmly strode towards him. "Oh, nothing, only... I want that one," he said, motioning towards the girl in the man's grasp "here," he tossed a small bag to the man, "take that and leave." Later the man might find out that the bag was full of small rounded pebbles, but by then he would not be able to stop Creed.

"hmm... fine," said the man tossing the bag. It did feel quite heavy.

He waited until the man had gone away, before allowing the girl he had "hired" to lead the way into the fortress. The moment that they were inside, the girl turned to him.

"Creed! I knew you'd come! Oh, Hana said that you were dead, but I knew that you were still alive!"

Creed's eyes widened as he processed what the woman had just said.

"Wait, you know me?"

"Of course I do Creed! But this is no time for joking around, what's your plan?"

"Umm, wait... slow down... I might have known you once, but I don't remember anything about my past beyond an asylum cell. In fact, the only reason I am here is because I got told that there might be a link here."

"What?" the girl replied

"Now my plan... is to shut this place down permanently."

"You don't..."

"Oh try to keep up. Look, I need somebody who knows the inside of this place, and can tell me how to find the man known as Second Birth."

"Umm... Second Birth is a woman."

"Whatever, it doesn't matter. Firstly, phase one is to free all of these slaves."

"Phase two, find Second Birth and remove hi- uh, her from the equation."

"But"

"And to do that, I'm going to need your cooperation."

"Ok"

"Good." Creed took a deep breath.

"First, where are the slaves kept around here?"

"Well, there are the dorms, there's the canteen where I generally work, there is the lounge, and there is the yard."

"Right, which is closest one of those in this building?" asked Creed

"Umm, the dorms are this way."

Creed followed the woman into a long corridor.

"Right then, what are the layouts of the rooms, and who is going to be in them?" asked Creed.

"Each dorm has two beds, and two people live in each dorm. Only slaves are going to be in them, but most of them will probably be working right now. There will almost certainly be a guard in each room with slaves in."

Creed tossed the second apple down the hall as hard as he could. The apple exploded on impact with the far wall, and created enough noise for Creed to be fairly certain that the guards had heard it. He then placed five apple pips between his teeth. As it happened, only four guards came running out of the dorms. Creed cupped his hand, and blew five times. He missed with his first shot, and had to adjust his aim slightly, but after that, all of his pips hit their mark, except one that lost momentum before it came to its target. Three of the guards collapsed, unconscious as the paste that Arru had applied to the pips worked its way into the guards' bloodstream. Only one was left, and Creed was upon him before he had time to think. Creed didn't bother to wrestle the man to the floor, he simply pushed him back against a wall and pressed his arm against the man's neck until he went limp. Creed then checked left and right, before walking into the four dormitories that had just been vacated. Creed promptly told the people in said dormitories to follow him if they wanted to be free, before checking in all of the other dormitories. However, he was unable to find anymore than the five that he already had. There was one man, two women, and two children, one male, one female. Creed was about to move on to the canteen, before he had a better idea. With six helpers, he might just be able to pull it off.

"Alright, where is this Second Birth?" Creed said.

"She should be in the top of the fortress in her office. But it will be heavily guarded," replied the man that he had just freed.

"In that case, I could use a distraction. Get everybody to cause a riot, no, wait, you two," Creed said motioning to the two kids "come with me."

"We're not going to go risking our lives for some fool's venture!" exclaimed one of the women.

Creed inwardly groaned. He should have known. These people had been beaten down until they had no spirit left to fight back with.

"Well I am," said the girl who Creed had originally used to get inside the fortress.

"Why Sara? Just let the fool go and die. He doesn't have to risk us just to satisfy his sense of honour."

"Because," said Sara "this, is Creed."

"This is the "Creed" that you keep going on about? I thought that you had imagined him." The cynical woman looked creed up and down. "Well, if you're half of what Sara says you are, then I'll throw my lot in with you."

As if she had spoken for all of them, the others nodded their heads.

* * *

"Alright, do you know what you need to do?" Creed asked of the young girl. She simply nodded.

"Off you go then, and don't worry. If they look like they're about to attack you, I'll step in and help."

The girl nodded again, then ran up the spiral staircase towards the office of Second Birth.

Creed and the boy heard her yell "Help, there are riots in the compound!" before Creed, with his enhanced hearing, heard exactly thirty pairs of feet running down the staircase.

"Ok, go," whispered Creed.

The boy stepped out in front of the guards. "This way!" he yelled, before running off down the hallway, the guards following him.

Creed watched them go by from the shadows, then stepped out, checked that nobody else was around, and then began to climb the stairs. He gave a thumb up to the girl as he passed her, then continued upwards. As he did so, he unlaced twenty more pips from his sleeve, and placed ten under his nails, point outwards, six between his fingers, and four in front of his teeth. As an afterthought, he took off his shoes and socks, and placed six more between his toes.

Four guards rushed him. Fighting like a cat, Creed used the pips under his nails like claws, and easily took all four of the guards out.

It seemed like these were the only guards left to defend Second Birth, as Creed was able to simply open the door to her office and walk in without further confrontation. As he did, a table flew at him. Creed was not quite quick enough to dodge the unexpected projectile, and so took a heavy blow to the head. Second Birth waited patiently as she heard several bumps, as Creed bounced all the way back down the staircase.

Creed groaned. All of a sudden, the small girl was less certain that this person could really do what he said he could. However, as Creed slowly got back to his feet, she couldn't help but squeal in excitement.

Creed was bruised and battered everywhere. He thought that this would almost certainly count as something going wrong. Second Birth must have received training as a ninja, and in his current state, Creed was not certain that he could face her. Therefore, he put two fingers in his mouth, and whistled out of a nearby window. He then took a length of rope from one of the guards, and tied it firmly to one of the legs of the table, before throwing the other end out of the window.

Something was wrong. Creed couldn't hear any footsteps coming down the stairs after him. That meant that she was still in her office. Creed half swore, realised that he was in the presence of a young girl, and altered what he was saying.

"Sh...oot."

Creed shook his head, and then decided that his enemy would be wary of the stairs now, so he jumped out of the window, and walked around to the office balcony. The fact that she had a balcony instantly set alarm bells ringing in Creed's head. If she knew that he had ninja training, it would only be natural to expect him from the balcony. So Creed tried something different. He made two clones, both of which came into the room from two different points. One entered from the door, one entered via the balcony. Both were destroyed in less than a second, but that second was all that Creed needed to transform into a spider, and crawl into the room from the balcony. Creed created one more clone, which was despatched by a shuriken to the neck. In all this time, Second Birth had not moved from her seat. Creed reasoned that she was strong and had a good aim, but overall, once he managed to get close, he might stand a chance.

Creed undid the transformation and charged. Second Birth threw two shuriken at him, which took him in the chest and throat. Or at least they would have, had Creed not used the body switch technique at the last moment, switching himself with the desk that Second Birth had been sitting at. Without hesitation, Second Birth used the body flicker technique to escape from Creed's immediate grasp, but Creed was upon her again before she could throw anything else. She body flickered again. Rather than follow up this time, Creed dropped all of the pips, including the ones in his mouth, and channelled his chakra. The wind scythe technique, primitive as it might have been at times was perfect for this scenario. Creed buffeted Second Birth with wind, then stepped in and pressed a pip firmly into her skin.

"Ok, the coast is clear!" he called back down the stairs to the girl. There were footsteps, and then the girl's head was seen to poke around the corner of the door.

Creed grinned as he hoisted up the limp form of Second Birth onto his shoulders, then groaned as his back exploded in pain in at least a dozen places. Not only that, but he realised that he was running low on chakra. Chuckling as if it was nothing, Creed attempted to hoist her again, but again to no avail.

"You need some help?" said the girl.

"Umm... yeah," mumbled Creed.

The girl ran out of the office. Creed decided that somebody who treated life as trash didn't deserve better treatment herself. So he simply pushed her off the edge of the staircase, and watched with great satisfaction as the limp form bounced all the way to the bottom of the stairs. He was about to follow the body down, when he noticed a crystal on the desk. As he did, memories began to swim back as if through a haze. Realising that this was why he was here, Creed pocketed the crystal. He then descended himself, trailing one hand on the wall to stop himself from falling.

At the bottom of the stairs, Creed found the girl, accompanied by two burly men, who were already picking up the body of Second Birth.

"You've done enough here," said one, "thanks and all that, but we can do everything else that is needed."

Creed gratefully inclined his head, and then slumped against a nearby wall.

* * *

The two men paraded Second Birth around like a trophy. Every time the guards saw the limp form of their leader, all but a few instantly surrendered. The rest were easily taken care of by the slaves.

"I told you he'd be back."

"If Creed really did do this, then why isn't he here? I mean Creed never was the sort to leave something half done," replied Hana.

"Well... I don't know."

* * *

"Well that certainly makes the place more pleasant to look at," said Arru, as he looked out the window at the trickle of slaves leaving the compound.

Creed grinned, then groaned as he realised that even doing that hurt his battered, bruised, and chakra depleted muscles. He hadn't even noticed just how much he had been running off adrenaline until the end of the fight. Either way, the whole ordeal had been worth the pain.

"So did you find what we actually came here for?" asked Arru.

Creed held up the crystal.

"I... think... that this... might just... be it..." he said, panting between every word.

As Creed gazed into it, he felt as if he was looking at the world down a narrow cavern. It seemed almost as if he had just left his body. Then the whole world went foggy, until the only thing that Creed could see was the crystal. A voice emitted from within it.

"To whoever holds this crystal, I am its creator. The power contained within it is such that someone who is under the influence of a deep memory loss only needs to stare into it to relive their memories. I warn you though, while reliving memories, the user will have no recollection of anything but what has already happened in the memory. Also, if the user should for any reason die in the course of reliving their memories, then their mind will be likewise dead in their future body. In other words, although you can regain your memories through this crystal, you will in your mind be reliving every hardship and ordeal you have ever had, and if you should stray from the way in which you originally did things, the crystal will generate what is necessary whilst using probability to figure out what else will happen until you get back on track for your original memories. If you do not feel that you are strong enough to do everything that you have ever done again, then put this crystal down now. If you are, then I can only wish you luck."

Creed looked away from the crystal.

"Arru, until I get back, you are in charge of making sure that I do not get killed by anything... alright?"

"Wait, where are you going?"

But Creed had already gazed into the crystal, and was now lying slumped against the wall, snoring.

* * *

Author's Note: As much as I really like the fact that people are still viewing my work, and that there are a few people who like it enough to read on, I would really appreciate it if somebody somewhere were to review. Therefore, I am not going to post the next chapter until somebody does review... please.


	5. The Creed of the Hunter

5. The Creed of the hunter.

Minato Uzumaki, now the fourth Hokage inwardly groaned. In a room behind him, a shadow clone was groaning even more, as he had forced it to do his paperwork, but right now, he had no feelings of compassion for it, or for himself later when the memories of the paperwork would come flooding back to him. No, right now, he was more concerned with the stuck up jounin who was standing in front of his desk.

"An outrage sir, truly an outrage!" said the man who Creed had viscously attacked with a tree earlier. As much as Minato admitted that in Creed's situation, he probably acted wisely, he couldn't help but feel that it was partially Creed's fault that this man now stood whining like a three year old in front of him. A three year old with an extended vocabulary granted, but either way, this man was acting less mature than most four year olds that Minato had met. Still, he was new to the office of Hokage, and he didn't want to be making enemies so quickly, especially not at this crucial stage, when all of his critics would be looking for anything that could discredit his right to be Hokage. Politics, Minato thought, were going to get very tiresome, very quickly.

"I totally agree Inuzuka, but I do not see any way that I can help you with this. Creed has escaped, and it could take many more resources than it is worth tracking him down again. I have sent a team of ANBU to attempt to find him, but I do not expect that they will have much luck if Creed was once the leader of the younin forces."

"But sir, surely you can" Inuzuka began.

"I could do what exactly? The resources spent on trying to catch Creed would leave us totally crippled in every way. The economy would be utterly destroyed, any other village may decide to invade us while we are preoccupied with our little breakout, and the morale of the people... no, it's not even worth contemplating."

"Sir, I would like to request that you allow me, and three others who volunteer to track down and apprehend Creed."

Inwardly, Minato grinned. This man didn't seem overly competent. In fact, how he had gotten to jounin was beyond him. However, by allowing him to take over all of Konoha's efforts to catch Creed, he could both help Creed, and stop his critics from complaining that he was not trying to do so. He would even be able to recall the team of ANBU that he had sent to take a vacation, and return saying that they had not managed to find Creed. For once, Minato really felt like he was in control of the political situation.

"Very well, if you can find said three people, then you are free to leave in pursuit of Creed."

"Thank lord Hokage."

Inuzuka calmly walked out of the room. Minato let out a sigh of exasperation, but then grinned, and looked at his list of appointments.

"Ah, how wonderful... Next, I have an appointment with the owner of a flower shop about lifting the taxes placed on her business," he mumbled. Minato groaned again. That made five hundred and eleven groans today. Hmm, he wasn't going to beet his previous record of nine thousand and fifty two today it seemed.

* * *

Inuzuka strode out of the building. There was work to be done.

"So?"

"It all went perfectly to plan. We have our permission," replied Inuzuka.

F9 cracked his knuckles and grinned. He was happy that he would be able to pay that little rabbit back for the pain that he had caused him.

The younin who had also attempted to apprehend Creed remained speechless, but was equally glad that he would be able to settle the score.

Inuzuka turned to the fourth member of the group. This man was strange. He hid all of his face except for his eyes behind a mask, and wore a strange red and black robe. Knowing so little about him, Inuzuka would generally have not allowed him to join their band. However, the tracking abilities of the byakugan would be priceless on this mission. Still, this most mysterious member of the group would bear watching. Inuzuka had recruited him by announcing that he was looking for highly trained volunteers to help track down an escaped convict. Still, it had not been until he had mentioned Creed by name that this stranger had offered to join. In fact, the moment the word Creed had been mentioned, he had transformed from an indifferent bystander, into the most enthusiastic person about joining. Inuzuka didn't trust him any further than he could throw him, but he had to admit that he was glad to have the stranger along.

"So, let's meet up here in twenty four hours again. Make sure that you're equipped with everything that you will need for a long trip," he continued.

The younin, (who at this point in the story will remain nameless) simply nodded and walked off. The rest of them departed from each other soon afterwards.

* * *

"Why do you... I don't... aahh." Inuzuka was looking at the enormous bag that F9 was shouldering. F9, strong as he was, was having to shift it from shoulder to shoulder every few seconds.

"But boss, I didn't know what to leave behind and..."

"Just what do you have in there anyway?"

F9 put down his bag, and began producing items. "First aid kit, insect repellent, fifteen changes of clothes, tooth brush, sleeping bag, lots of food, midnight snack, Mr. cuddles, industrial strength hair dryer, scythe, picture of home, survival guide..."

"Enough!" yelled Inuzuka.

Meanwhile, the younin, and the stranger were each trying to figure out what sort of impression it would create of themselves, if they laughed at the proceedings, or if they acted with distain towards them.

"Fine, you can take it all, but you have to carry it."

F9's face broke into a childish grin.

"So, any idea where they might have gone?" asked Inuzuka, with a questioning glance at the stranger. The stranger simply motioned for the group to follow him with his hand.

* * *

Inuzuka was fuming. First there had been F9s incompetence at packing, and now this...

The stranger was stuffing his face on Ramen, while the others stood waiting, and Inuzuka ranted about how this mission was not the sort of thing that could be taken as a joke.

"THIS MISSION COMES DIRECTLY FROM THE HOKAGE, IF YOU WANT TO MESS AROUND, YOU CAME TO THE WRONG PLACE BECAUSE..."

Inuzuka was about to continue, when he saw F9 ordering ramen as well.

"Don't even think about it..." said Inuzuka, placing himself between F9 and the counter.

"And how is little miss I got taken out in under ten seconds by the guy who we're tracking going to stop me?" said F9, eyeing up his ramen in a hungry manner.

"If we didn't need you, you would be crippled right now for that comment," replied the shorter man, his left ye twitching slightly.

F9 opened his mouth to laugh, and all of a sudden felt something hard and sharp placed against his neck. Inuzuka had disappeared to F9. The younin lifted an eyebrow, as he saw Inuzuka reappear behind F9 before he had even disappeared from in front of him. The younin knew of only three people that talented in space time ninjutsu. One of Inuzuka's seven katanas was now at F9's throat. F9 was about to retaliate, when he saw the second katana that was placed worryingly close to F9's Achilles heel. Or to be more precise, the "primary target" that Creed had used to subdue F9. F9's eyes widened and a small squeal escaped his lips.

"Now, shall we leave...?" said Inuzuka in an overly sweet tone.

"O-of c-course sir," replied F9.

For a second, the stranger regarded his bowl, and then he picked it up, quite messily slurped the rest of his Ramen down, and then slapped a handful of Ryo down on the counter before leaving.

Inuzuka marched F9 out of the Ramen stall like a hostage, and continued to do so until they were stopped by a passing jounin. A short explanation cleared everything up, but Inuzuka decided to let F9 walk without "motivation"after that. Following these events, the misfit party walked in silence for a while.

* * *

Author's note: it's a short chapter, I know, but I haven't had much time recently. After the suggestion by Azure Nemesis, I am now searching for a beta. Therefore, if anybody reading this would be willing to beta (or even if I am really lucky, would like to beta), please pm me. At this point, I am not in a position to be overly choosy about who I get. However, if possible, I am looking for somebody who can make the story flow better by rewording (but this is me being overly hopeful).

I am very sorry about the amount of time that it has taken to get this out, but I have been rather busy recently. Anyway, enjoy, and please review.

By the way, thank you very much to Azure Nemesis for bothering to comment on my work.


	6. Part 2, prologue

Author's note:

I warned you that this story started before the beginning and after the end. Well, here is where it all began, with two parents lovingly looking down at a small squirming ball of sheets. Both were aware of the incoming danger, and both were resigned to it. When the red and black masked man burst through the door, neither the man, nor the woman fought back as he killed them each as easily as a hawk might kill a mouse. Actually, perhaps this comparison is inappropriate, for I have never seen a hawk take pity on a baby mouse before. No, as the man raised his kunai, ready to exterminate the last member of the clan, the bundle of sheets looked directly up into his face. Those cloudy gray eyes seemed to pierce right to the man's heart. The effect was greater than even some of the most skilled genjutsu masters could ever have hoped to accomplish with such a resolved subject.

Creed looked on in horror as the black figure killed the man and woman, and in disbelief as he spared the child. He screamed at the figure, but no sound came out of his gaping mouth. He struck his fist against the back of his head, but it passed right through. He even tried using his precious reserve of chakra to weave a jutsu against the robed person, but all to no avail. Eventually, Creed simply stood and observed, resigned to the fact that in his current form, he could not affect this world in any way.

He watched and followed with a sad smile on his face as the black figure cradled the child and slowly walked out of the door.

"So, I guess that's me..." thought Creed.

"Damn, my childhood was terrible,"

At Creed's first step as he followed the masked figure, he was a shade, who could do nothing but observe.

At the second step, his body became transparent, and he felt hollow.

At the third step, he no longer felt his own weight, as if he was nothing but a feather in the wind.

At the fourth step, he no longer felt any physical contact as his foot touched the ground.

With the fifth step, he no longer was walking at all. He simply willed himself to move along in parallel to his younger self, and drifted.

When Creed took his sixth step, he no longer had a foot to step with. He was simply a consciousness drifting in the wind, but still he followed his younger self.

There was nothing left of the older version of Creed when he took his seventh step, nothing but a feeling, and an awareness.

Creed could only measure when his eighth step came, by the robed figure. By the time the person had taken his seventh step, Creed no longer had any feeling. He was aware, but felt nothing about what he saw. Yet still, he followed.

When the person in the mask took his ninth step, Creed no longer existed. In body, he was slumped against a wall, about thirty years in the future, but in spirit, he did not exist, for a person cannot exist in two forms in two times. Everybody changes over time, but none of those changes had yet taken place to Creed, so he could not exist. Creed's soul was now nothing but a bargaining chip, in the greatest gamble he had ever made. A person is nothing except the choices that they make, and the things that they have done. Creed was about to rewrite his entire life. If any one part of the delicate equation was rewritten incorrectly, who knew what the end result would be? Of course, Creed had never considered this as he had gazed into the crystal. He had acted on impulse, just as he so often had. Instinct was often Creed's greatest weapon. It was also one of his greatest weaknesses.

As the assassin took his tenth step, Lawa Ebbu finally stopped squirming, and looked up at the killer of his parents, who ironically had turned out to be his own savior. However, there was nothing visible of the assassin's face. There was just a hood, and a mask, through which, two pure white eyes gazed down at the child.


	7. Larkan's troubles

6. The Creed of the beginning

Larkan Senju slowly got back to his feet again. Chouji was standing on the other side of the room, with a sadistic smile on his face as Larkan stood up to receive more punishment. The two boys faced each other for a second, then Chouji, using his extra height weight and strength to great effect, bullrushed Larkan, barrelling into him, and knocking him over again. Larkan was quickly trampled under Chouji's feet, as the larger boy ran over Larkan, taking great care to stamp very hard down onto the smaller child's neck.

All around, the other academy students laughed and jeered as Larkan yet again cried out in pain.

"You know how to get me to stop Larkan" said Chouji, strutting around the tarmac yard. "Just empty your pockets for us, and we can all forget this ever happened."

Larkan gritted his teeth, but did not get up again.

"Why don't you use your signature technique Larkan?" jeered another student, "Just use your "cry to the teacher technique"".

Larkan gritted his teeth. They all knew that he had never done that. Hiroshu had taught him better than to rely on others to accomplish things.

"Come on; just use your devastating ninjutsus!"

That comment stung. They all knew that Larkan had no chakra. Not even their sensei could detect Larkan's chakra, and in the end the conclusion had been drawn that he had no chakra.

Larkan just couldn't think of any plan. It had once been said that he had the mind of a kage if nothing else, but when he was under pressure, or when there were people watching... Larkan's every thought was blank. For a second, he considered getting up again, but he didn't really have very much on him, only about twenty ryo, enough for a small meal later today and his ribs were threatening to give in. He could do without lunch. Larkan reached into his pockets, and pulled out what he had.

"That all?" asked Chouji in disgust.

Larkan didn't move.

Chouji stuffed the twenty ryo into his pockets, and then inspected Larkan with his foot in a similar way to how he might inspect a disgusting object on the floor, as if he didn't want to dirty his boot. He then delivered a final kick to the prone Larkan, and left.

"What do I keep telling you?" Hiroshu looked slightly sadly as he applied more of the healing salve to Larkan's bruised skin.

"I know but-"

"You can't keep getting beaten up like this. We don't have the money to keep throwing away your items to those bullies. I told you that sometimes brute force just isn't the answer."

Larkan didn't answer, so Hiroshu continued, "Look Larkan... if you're ever going to become a ninja, you have to get past that problem that you have with your nerves."

"But Hiroshu, when I get nervous I just-"

"I know, I know. So what you're going to have to do is either keep your nerves in check, or figure out a way to stay calm in these scenarios... you have no real strengths Larkan, other than that mind of yours. You don't put any muscle on yourself when you train, you can't use jutsu, and you panic whenever other people are around. You might know enough useful facts about survival, poisons and practically everything else that a ninja can do, but you just aren't skilled enough in body to use these facts..." Larkan still didn't reply. He had been given this talk from both Hiroshu and Nobuyuki countless times, but no matter what he did, he could never do anything about his gaping weaknesses. "I mean seriously Larkan, when you last tried to make a poison, you ended up in hospital for three days because you poisoned yourself." Hiroshu took a deep breath. What he was going to say next wasn't going to be easy to say to Larkan, but it had to be said. "Larkan... maybe you should think of another career than a ninja.

Larkan looked up, slightly shocked that Hiroshu was really suggesting such a thing. He was only seven, but he was a highly ambitious boy who wanted nothing more than to follow in his adopted father's footsteps.

"You would make an excellent scholar Larkan, possibly one of the best, and as a scholar, you wouldn't have to..."

Larkan wasn't listening. Chouji and his gang had said much the same thing (although they had said that he would make a good beggar, not a scholar). Larkan had mostly ignored this coming from them, but with Hiroshu saying this...

Larkan knew that Hiroshu only had his best interests at heart, and maybe if Hiroshu said so then...

"Or a diplomat if your nerves don't get in the way," Hiroshu was saying.

All of a sudden, Larkan was struck by a strange idea.

"Umm, Hiroshu?" he said

"Yes?"

"What if I could beat those bullies, could I be a ninja then?"

"Well yes, but-"

"Thanks Hiroshu!" yelled Larkan, and ran out of the room, leaving a very confused guardian behind him.

Larkan spent twenty minutes setting everything up, but when it was done, he felt proud of what he had achieved. Hiroshu's comment about becoming a diplomat had sparked off an idea in Larkan's overactive mind. Diplomats did not generally get into fights themselves, preferring manipulation and guile to cause others to fight their battles for them. In fact, at the beginning of most battles before ninja became the main source of military power, one would find a high ranking diplomat. When they had to get their hands dirty, they preferred to do only what was necessary to survive, and to slowly create plans of escape when they became captured. The latter piece of information was of no concern to Larkan currently, but when he had thought about it, he had been surprised at the effects that the tongue, and the ability to make others perceive things differently could have. Indeed, he had chanced upon the principle that had lead to many great genjutsu masters making a name for themselves. The trick to a good illusion was to mask reality behind a very thin vale, and to allow the target to fill in the gaps themselves. An overly detailed illusion would inevitably leave some sort of detail that would seem wrong to the target of the illusion. After all, no two people perceive the world in the same way, and if one detail stands out too much, or not enough... It was better to both be undefined with your illusions, and to keep them up for the shortest time possible, to limit the amount of time that the target of the trick would have to realise that they were being tricked.

All he had done was spread several pieces of string across the yard, and tied them to the point at which they looked a little like tripwires. He had then gone to speak with one of the best ranged weapon specialists in the academy. Yoriska looked a little surprised at first, and was a little reluctant to help the runt of the academy, but in the end, when Larkan offered a small amount of... shall we say motivation, she decided to go along with the short boy's plan.

When the bullies next came for Larkan, he was ready. He didn't panic, and although he had to close his eyes and count to ten to calm himself, he remained in control of his wits. He allowed the overly muscled form of Chouji to approach him, until he was totally overshadowed by the tall boy.

"So, you gonna empty out yer pockets now, or do yeh want to have a lie down first," grinned the pug faced boy.

Larkan calmly reached into his pockets, and bent over as if emptying them out onto the floor. As he did so, he spat once at Chouji's feet. The wet projectile found its mark.

Chouji looked down at his shoes, then picked Larkan up by the scruff of his jacket, and roughly forced him down to the floor.

"Lick that off"

Larkan looked back up at Chouji, and then with the sleeve of his jacket wiped his shoes.

"I said lick it off"

"Fine, just give me... a second"

Larkan slowly stood back up, and took two steps back. He took a deep breath, and looked back at Chouji's filthy shoes. He didn't need to fake revulsion, but he did need to be very careful that the two steps looked natural, and nto too calculated. He kept reminding himself "I don't have to fight them, nothing will go wrong." One part of hi mind was screaming with nerves, but he shut it out. He replaced the thoughts with thoughts of the very simple task that lay ahead of him, becoming so fixated on the task at hand that there was no space left in his mind to feel petty emotions such as nervousness. Larkan's task was very simple, and it was this that made him able to execute it with such ease. Had his task been complex, he would never have been able to focus on each part as hard as he was now, and in the gaps of indescision between one step and the next, his nerves would cause him to lose his concentration. This time, Larkan had made his plan before the encounter. He had gone over it so many times in his mind that now performing it was instinctive. Larkan took another "nervous" step back, stepping over an almost invisible threshold. The plan was in motion. Larkan took one more step back, before straightening up. This was the part that he had to keep calm for. If his nerves broke here, Chouji wouldn't fall for his ruse, or worse, would not even see it.

"Chouji... you do realise that the only thing more disgusting than the thought of your shoes is the thought of you and the sort of things that you probably eat on a daily basis. I guess you thought you'd treat me to a piece of your cultural cuisine, but I must decline. You enjoy it yourself now."

Larkan started to walk off casually.

For a second, Chouji just looked incredulously at Larkan, before he realised that he had been insulted. Then Chouji's vision went red. How dare Larkan insult a superior ninja like himself. Well, he'd show that little pip squeak...

Chouji charged, attempting to slam Larkan to the ground. However, as he did so, his foot broke the almost invisible thread that Larkan had "nervously" stepped over. Chouji was struck by a kunai from his left, and staggered to a surprised stop, incredulously gazing at the shallow wound as his blood trickled down his arm. Larkan stopped, and inspected a rubber band tied to tree, carefully connected to a wire and a kunai. This was the point where either Chouji would realise the bluff, would fall for the bluff, or would be too dum to put two and two together.  
Chouji looked around for who had thrown the kunai, but nobody was in sight who could have done so. Chouji turned back to Larkan. He noticed the kunai and rubber band trap, and somehow, something did click in his tiny brain. Larkan looked back at Chouji. Chouji looked back at Larkan.

* * *

Author's note: and here I am again. As you can see, although Creed was a mighty ninja, Larkan Senju was nothing but a runt. A runt with a brilliant mind, but a runt who was too weak to use it. Not only that, but Creed was a master of techniques. Larkan cannot use any. It is as if his chakra is non-existent. So how did Larkan, who needed help to just land a hit on an oversized bully, become Creed, the captain of the younin? Stick around to find out. (yes I just did use a really cheesy line.)

Author's Note: I am very sorry to those of you who were following this (I think that that comes to 2) for the delay. I was a little tied up with my other project. But finally, here it is, the next chapter. It might not be incredible, but it is still something that I hope that you will enjoy.


	8. Larkan's path

7.

You may have expected Larkan's troubles to be over now. Indeed, that day was the first that Chouji could remember in which he had chosen to get money from Larkan, and had been unsuccessful at doing so. However, Chouji was as unobservant, vain, and heartless as he was stupid, and the average sheep could probably beat him in a civilised argument, or in any other test of wits. Larkan may have returned that day as a triumphant hero, all be it still without his money (he had had to pay Yoriska for her help), but the next day Larkan was lucky to walk out of the academy alive. Certainly, he had lost much more than just his money by the time that Chouji had finished with him... he had lost his confidence and perhaps a good number of brain cells. He was also losing a considerable amount of blood when Hiroshu found him. Larkan was demoralised in every possible way. His plan had been brilliant, and he had somehow managed to stop himself from panicking, and had pulled it off. Still, he had not considered the effects that such a beating would have on a boy like Chouji in great enough detail.

The plan had been as follows. The wires strung around the yard were connected to nothing, but Chouji could not have known that. Whenever one was broken, Yorisha was to send a kunai flying into whoever broke it. This was supposed to create the illusion that Larkan had rigged the area, so long as Yorisha stayed hidden. It had not been a masterful plan, but it should have worked. Chouji was supposed to be demoralised by his defeat at Larkan's hands, or would grow to fear Larkan. The result should have been that he would leave Larkan alone. Larkan had not expected this reaction; although he should have, had he thought this through as much as he should have. Chouji's stupidity meant that he would not be intelligent enough to fall for a bluff that would have fooled all but the most intelligent of people, for the simple reason that he was too stupid to even see it. All that he understood was that Larkan had somehow gotten the better of him, and his vanity was enough that he instantly wanted revenge. He was heartless enough to really make Larkan pay for his slight oversight. Unfortunately for Larkan, Chouji had punished him more than he had realised. Hiroshu removed Larkan from the academy the next day. "He'll make a fine diplomat" Hiroshu told himself, but inwardly, although he knew that although the decision had been made for Larkan's own good, the seven year old would hate him for making it.

Larkan had never been the sort of person who could press on blindly despite overwhelming odds. He was all for taking a step back from such a situation and making it his own, changing the odds until they were more to his liking, but he was exceptionally weak willed all things considered, prone to giving up without a fight whenever there was little or nothing to lose. Indeed, not even Creed would be able to use sheer willpower to fell opponents much larger than himself. Perhaps the reason that Creed could never make kage was for this reason, after all, how can a ruler expect his subjects to remain brave when he had already given up himself.

Creed... who was Creed? Larkan would never become a great ninja. He was going to become a diplomat, and just as a young boy cannot move a continent with his words, so Larkan knew that Hiroshu would be immovable in this, and so he did what he did all too often... he gave up. All in all, this quality made him anything but a ninja. If a ninja could not persevere with their training, then they would never become great. Hiroshu was certain that he had made the right choice... if only Larkan could see that.

It should be mentioned at this point, that Larkan had had no parents, and had never really looked up to anybody but Hiroshu. Therefore, it was only natural that Larkan would grow to admire Hiroshu above all other things, and his dream was to become a ninja, like Hiroshu. Anyway, this is why the boy with so much potential for so much other than a ninja wanted nothing more than to become a ninja. However, it should also be noticed that in the real world, a dream is not enough. Sometimes, no matter how much a person wants something, it is simply unattainable. Larkan knew this all too well, but it did not ease the fact that his dreams were becoming impossible, so he sat down, and told himself again and again that he would not become a ninja, but he was going to become a diplomat... another worthy profession. After repeating it for barely a minute, he had already accepted the fact, and was content with it. After all, he was never going to achieve his dream anyway, so why bother trying for it... He was not pessimistic, just overly grounded. Growing up without parents, and with a mentor who made everybody else seem constantly giddy and stupid with how grounded he was, seemed to have that effect on him. Anyway, now Larkan was ready to take the world of diplomacy by storm.

Hiroshu enrolled Larkan in a much smaller school than the ninja academy. Larkan was only the sixth member of the Konoha school for diplomats and couriers, and also the youngest. Four girls, one boy, and a wash of names that he meticulously committed to memory, (a diplomat should never forget a name or a face), before taking his place near the middle of the class where he could hear all conversations, convey points to the whole room evenly, and still sink into his seat and remain unnoticed if needed. Might as well begin as he meant to go on. The woman who was teaching the class noticed this immediately, but dismissed it as chance... there was no chance that a seven year old, without training could instantly pick the most advantageous seat in the room on purpose... a seat that the others had been trying to deduce the position of for ages... no, it was chance, nothing more.

The diplomats learned by being presented with scenarios, and the arguments that they were reporting on. They were given these one day in advance, and expected to prepare for these in the time between school days. The teacher would then feedback to them on what they had done well, and what they had done badly. Each budding diplomat was supposed to represent a different village in a large scale conference negotiating over this, and that. The teacher kept a large board, full of treaties, agreements, and compromises that had been reached between villages. Since it was Larkan's first day, he wasn't expected to contribute directly to the discussion, but simply observe. Kilika (the teacher) would judge how well he had listened to the arguments presented today, and would hear his presentation skills tomorrow.

Hmm, well at the moment, the new boy seems to be completely uninterested. Typical, he's the same as most boys who come to our village... inattentive and probably dreams of becoming hokage. Right now, he is resting his head on his arms, and is probably trying to fall asleep.

Larkan gazed at the map on the wall. Hmm, from what he could tell, each child represented a different nation, and there was one who stood above the rest... hmm, might want to make an ally of her. Question is, which is she...

"And therefore, I must conclude that if you intend to transport your goods through the land of sea, then it is only reasonable to exact a toll for the hiring of shinobi to escort the caravan through these lands. It would be unreasonable to expect the land of sea to undertake such a venture as to finance this themselves, or to feel at all secure with a caravan from an unallied nation moving through its borders every year. Therefore, I must insist that if this is to go ahead, the land of thunder must pay a toll, as of yet undecided, but I suggest that we first negotiate on how many shinobi must accompany the caravan. Not that I am suggesting that you would attempt to attack the land of sea through said caravan, but you must..."

Hmm, the land of sea is currently behind the land of thunder in martial power... hello, there is a blank nation... the land of sun? Is this my nation now...? Larkan kept his head rested on his arms, attempting to convey the idea that he was not listening. The land of sun eh... well, let's see what we have as resources. Hmm, seems like they only have a very slight martial presence, but have spies everywhere in other nations. They also have some exceptional scouts. Hey, this is pretty detailed. Apparently, we are quite prosperous as a nation, but have barely any samurai, and even less shinobi. We have a set of natural defences in the fact that we are pretty secluded from the other nations, and hence receive word of any potential attack through the no man's land of the moordeeb sea weeks before it arrives. The island is also surrounded by rocks, making it almost impregnable by boat. Shinobi would be required to threaten the land. Apparently further details are known only to me, but I don't know anything else yet... ah well, might as well make use of what we have...

"The land of thunder must therefore withdraw its offer of trade with the land of wood unless a more favourable arrangement can be reached" it was the boy who was speaking.

Larkan disinterestedly raised his head and rubbed his eyes. It was time to start making some connections.

The land of thunder stood geographically between the land of sun and the other nations. If he was going to make an ally, the land of thunder would be the most advantageous partner to gain. Still, he wasn't quite certain if he was supposed to do what he was about to do... oh well, no harm in trying. "The land of Sun must comment at this point that if the land of thunder was to so wish, our considerable might as scouts and spies may be useful to them in this scenario. The land of Sun could easily smuggle a caravan through the land of sea."

Larkan waited to see the impact of his comment on the other students. By saying this, he had not only simultaneously made an enemy of the land of water, and a friend of the land of water, but he had also just directly threatened the land of water. Not only this, but now, the land of water would have to renegotiate in order to stop such an action from taking place. However, he wasn't quite done yet. Realistically, he didn't really care about the trade caravan, but there were other matters that could be exploited from this scenario.

Kilika was outraged. Not only had this child just indulged in some childish fantasy of war, but he had just acted, forming enemies of his nation without any instructions from his kage. Larkan did not know this at the time, but in actual fact, each student was given "the wishes of their kage" in a note, which expressed what they were allowed to do, and what they were supposed to achieve through this talk. The land of sun, having only newly entered into this council would have a purpose of simply observing and attempting to formulate an idea of how proceedings work. A diplomat could definitely not declare war on others, or make threats to, or even enemies of other nations, without the approval of their kage. This approval could be negotiated for, but made up on the spur of the moment, definitely not. This boy would not see another day of the academy. Still, he obviously had been paying slightly more attention than she had credited him for. Perhaps his inattentiveness was just a ruse. No, he was a young boy with violent fantasies. He was anything but diplomat material.

"I am certain that the implications of this are not lost on you. Therefore, I think that we may wish to renegotiate the set of agreements that have been so far made with regard to the trading caravan. The land of sea may even have to pay for the privilege of having the trading caravan in plain sight..."

Again, there was silence.

"However, for reasons that the land of Sun will for the present keep to itself, it has a different proposition. In return for both being able to use the trade route opened up by this caravan, and military support from the land of thunder should the need ever arise, the exact details of which are yet to be decided, the land of sun would be more than willing to pay the land of sea's toll."

Larkan could feel the whole room slowly exhale. There was now a potential way out of what was looking like a potential war with just a simple nod. This way was going to be advantageous for everybody involved. The land of the sun, with its substantial wealth would barely feel the weight of the toll, and the toll would inevitably come back to them in the ability to use the trade route. Meanwhile, the land of sea got its toll and its ninja escort for the caravan, and the land of thunder and the land of wood got their trade route, and the land of thunder got out of having to pay what would have been for it a substantial toll in return for simple military support. Meanwhile, the land of wood, and the land of thunder both got a trade route with the impressive wealth of the land of sun. Overall, there was nobody who seemed to come out lower from this, except for the land of corn, and the land of steel, and they really were only here for the fact that one was allied to the land of sea, and the other to the land of wood. In fact, through their alliances, they may come to benefit from this much more than the alternative, which could have been disastrous for them. Ultimately, Larkan had only mentioned the alternative for this reason, to quell resistance from these two nations. Kilika was actually impressed. Maybe this boy could be a diplomat after all. She hastily made some edits to the notes that she had been writing to the students from their kage. Tomorrow, she would find out just how much of a natural this boy was. In fact, she was beginning to doubt that even his choice of chair was coincidence. No, perhaps everything this boy did was coolly calculated before its execution. Well, tomorrow she would find out. From somewhere else, two more beings also watched Larkan. One of these moved along the rooftops as he went home, following him without being seen.

"Larkan... a diplomat? Oh no, you my friend are going to be much more than that. Larkan Senju, you cannot change your blood, even if you wanted to. Do not give up on your dream yet my brother..."

The second being was a pure white owl. This owl took a strange interest in the boy as he moved through the streets. For reasons unknown to all but itself, it decided to keep watch on this young boy. It was just a feeling, but maybe, just maybe, he was the one.

* * *

Author's Note: Well I hope that you have enjoyed this, and I apologize for the amount of time since the last update. Still, for those of you who like this story, please review, favourite, etc. It is really demoralising how little this has been reviewed/favourited, but for what I do have, I am very grateful. Anyway, enjoy, and remember that for those of you who are interested, I am still looking for a beta. Observer Shade has observed, and documented.


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